


Medicinal Theobromine aka Chocolate Therapy

by Dreamin



Series: What Happens After [2]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-19 05:54:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19969117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamin/pseuds/Dreamin
Summary: Pepper gets to know Stephen over ice cream.





	Medicinal Theobromine aka Chocolate Therapy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [afteriwake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/gifts).



> This is a direct sequel to _Ugly Plates And Ice Cream Are How We Cope_.

Pepper took the two pints out of the freezer and held out Chocolate Therapy to Stephen but he didn’t take it.

“Do you have a towel you can wrap it in?” He looked a little embarrassed. “My hands are sensitive to cold.”

She could’ve kicked herself for forgetting about his injury. “Of course, sorry.” She took the lid off then folded a clean kitchen towel into thirds then wrapped it around the pint before handing it and a spoon to Stephen.

He smiled gratefully. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” She took the lid off her pint then grabbed her spoon and sat down at the kitchen table.

Stephen sat down across from her, smiling a bit as he took his first spoonful. “So…”

“I just realized that I don’t know all that much about you,” Pepper admitted as she started on her own ice cream. “I know you’re a sorcerer, and before that you were a doctor and there was something about a car accident?”

He nodded. “I was a well-respected neurosurgeon, with all the trappings that go along with that. To be honest, I let it all go to my head – I was an arrogant dick and didn’t let anyone really get close to me. The person who came the closest was Dr. Christine Palmer, a colleague of mine.”

“Did you date?” Pepper asked, unexpectedly fascinated. _God, he sounds like how Tony was._ She mentally winced. _I shouldn’t compare the two of them._

“Yes, for about a year,” he said quietly, his eyes on his ice cream as he ate. “She was in love with me but I never allowed myself to fall in love with her, or anyone else, for that matter.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t want to lose control of my life. It was perfect the way I had it, I had the freedom to do whatever I wanted. Being in love would have changed all of that.”

Pepper nodded. “I assume she’s the one who left.”

He smiled a bit. “Good guess. Yeah, she left after an epic shouting match. We still had to work together, which was pretty awkward. Eventually, we became friends.” He paused long enough to take another spoonful. “I fell in love with her while I was half a world away, learning the Mystic Arts, but she had already fallen out of love with me.” He smiled sadly. “At least this time, there wasn’t a fight.”

“I’m sorry,” she said gently, and meant it.

“Thanks. We’re friends again now, and I think that’s what we were meant to be.”

“It’s good that she’s still in your life.”

He nodded. “She was right by my side after the accident. I pushed her away just before I left for Kathmandu, something I’ll never forgive myself for, but she was still willing to help when I came back.”

“She sounds like a very generous person.”

“She is.” He focused on his ice cream and Pepper could tell he was avoiding a topic.

 _There’s no use ignoring the elephant in the room._ “Do you want to talk about the accident?” she asked gently.

He looked up at her, the ghost of a smile on his face. “Not particularly, but if you want to get to know me, I’ll have to talk about it sooner or later.”

“You don’t have to-”

“No, it’s fine.” He sighed quietly. “It wouldn’t have happened if I had any common sense. I was speeding at night on an unfamiliar road through a rainstorm to get to a dinner where I was supposed to give a speech.” He smiled weakly. “As if that wasn’t bad enough, I had my assistant on the speakerphone and I kept taking my eyes off the road to look at X-rays he sent me.”

She stared at him. “Were you normally that reckless?”

He shrugged. “That’s the thing – I didn’t see it as being reckless, I saw it as a situation I could perfectly handle.”

“You did that a lot?”

“Not the unfamiliar road and the rainstorm, but driving and being on the phone with my assistant while he sent me info on potential cases? All the time.”

Her eyes widened. “And this was your only accident?”

“Yes. I’d get the occasional speeding ticket, but that’s it.”

Pepper shook her head in amazement then she stared at him. “Was there another car involved?”

“Yes, I clipped the side of a car and spun out. From what the police told me after, she wasn’t hurt at all.”

“Thank God,” she murmured.

Stephen nodded. “My memory of the crash basically stops there. The police said I went over the side and ended up with the car nose-down in the water. I’m lucky I didn’t drown.” He looked down at his hands, adding quietly, “Flying debris tore through my hands. It took several surgeries to even get them to this point.” He held up his left hand and it trembled. “At the time, I told everyone that I would’ve succeeded in saving the patient’s dexterity if the accident had happened to someone else but honestly, I’ve looked at my charts, the X-rays, everything, and I can accept now that even I couldn’t have done much more than what the doctors did for me.”

Pepper held out her hand. “May I?” she asked gently.

He regarded her for a moment then he stuck his spoon into the pint and laid his hand in hers. She could see the raised, reddish scars from the surgeries and smaller, incidental scars she assumed he received from the battles he’d been in. His hand was large, long-fingered, and still elegant despite the scars.

She looked up at him. “Do they hurt still?”

He nodded. “Constantly. Pain is something I’ve learned to set aside when I need to focus.”

“Do you take anything for it?”

“Any painkillers that are strong enough to do more than just take the edge off leave me in a fog and that’s too dangerous for someone guarding the planet.”

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, releasing his hand.

“Thank you.” He then told her of his search for a cure that led him to Kathmandu and a sorceress who saw more in him than he saw in himself. When he told her about the Ancient One’s death, Pepper felt her eyes welling up over a woman she’d never met. He smiled gently. “She would have liked you – a strong woman who loves fiercely and takes no shit from anyone.”

She couldn’t help smiling. “Thank you, but I don’t feel very strong these days.”

“You are,” he insisted gently. “You’ve been through more in the past fifteen years than many people have in their entire lifetimes and you’re still fighting, but none of it has made you bitter or cold.”

“I won’t let it,” she admitted quietly. “I can’t do that to myself. My mother was bitter after my parents’ divorce and it ate her up inside, I can’t let that happen to me. Morgan deserves so much more than that.”

“So do you, Pepper. You deserve the world.”

Pepper smiled sadly. “I had the world – I had Tony, Morgan, and our friends. Without Tony, my world has … condensed.”

“It could expand again.”

“Yes, but there will always be a gaping hole where Tony was, like the crater left behind after a meteor hits.”

He smiled gently. “Tony did know how to make an impact.”

Pepper giggled, she couldn’t help it. “That he did.” She finished her ice cream and set the empty container and spoon aside. “What’s next for you, Stephen?”

“Big picture or little picture?”

“Both.”

“Big picture, protecting the planet. Wanda asked me if I’d help her develop her powers. Her magic is completely different than mine, but I think I can still help.”

Pepper nodded. “That sounds like a good distraction for you. What about the little picture?”

Stephen smiled a bit. “Honestly? Checking on you was my only plan for today. Since you’re doing as well as can be expected, I’ll go back to the Sanctum and probably catch up on my reading – a lot came out when I was in the Soul Realm, I still haven’t read it all.” He finished his ice cream then stood up, took her container and spoon, then dumped the two containers in the garbage and put the spoons in the dishwasher.

Pepper had the feeling that was his way of telling her he didn’t want to talk about the Soul Realm. She decided not to push. Getting up, she said, “I can give you my number, you can call me if you ever need anything,” she smiled a bit, “even if it’s just someone other than Wong to talk to.”

Stephen chuckled. “He does tend to talk a person’s ear off. Alright, and I can give you mine. The same goes for you – call me if you need anything.”

“I will.” She walked him out and watched as he opened a portal to what she assumed was the inside of the Sanctum Sanctorum and walk through it. As soon as the portal closed behind him, she heard a voice in her head that, despite being her own imagination, sounded so much like Tony that she couldn’t help but smile.

_He’ll be good for you, Pep._

Her smile widened. _I think you’re right._

_And if he’s not, I’ll come back and haunt his ass._

Pepper laughed softly as she went back into the house.


End file.
